‘A Good & Just War’ — Is Trump Crazy Enough To Wag The Dog Using North Korea?

I used to say when I lived in South Korea that problems were solved in one of two ways — either it was done in a really weird way or there was a fistfight. So, as Donald Trump barely muddles through the first month of his administration, it seems like it would make a lot of sense for him to “wag the dog” using a war with North Korea.

Now, let me stress, I don’t want this to happen. I don’t want this to happen at all. I know and love a few people in South Korea who would be dead as a doornail should the worst happen and North Korea attack South Korea. There pretty much wouldn’t be any warning if such an attack happened. When I was in South Korea, I kept asking the question of how much notice we would have should North Korea decide to attack and no one would give me a straight answer.

Anyway, what is so problematic all of this is it would be very, very easy for Trump to sell a war with North Korea because, well, North Korea is horrible. Simply horrible. It’s the worst regime on earth by a long shot and it would be easy to use a war with North Korea as a huge distraction that would give Trump’s presidency the breathing room it needed to survive.

Do I think this will happen? I honestly can’t say. It could go either way. What I am most concerned about is that Trump will, through sheer mismanagement of the situation, cause an otherwise avoidable war. Should such a horrible war start, I can honestly say once the initial shock wore off and I knew the people I know in the area were safe, I would probably support it simply because it needs to be done eventually.

The next few days and weeks will be telling. It could be a lot less than that. I could be a few hours if things get really bad for Trump as quickly as all of us suspect. But I don’t know. I just don’t know. Everything is up in the air and could go either way. I probably and overthinking things as always.